It's Just a Little Crush
by thegoldensnitch102
Summary: What if your summer fling ended up mingling with your real life? What if your crush was actually an international Quidditch player and you didn't recognise him? Thank goodness you have your best friend to talk to about it all!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

 **I wanted to explore Hermione's romance with Viktor Krum as well as her friendship with Ginny. It's clear from the books that the two are great friends and who else really is Hermione going to be able to talk to boys about with other than Ginny? After all who doesn't love meeting up with your bestie to chat about your latest crush?**

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Ginny squealed excitedly as Hermione arrived at the Burrow, a few days before they were set to go to the Qudditch World Cup. Although she wasn't particularly girlie, Ginny had been constantly surrounded by teenage boys all summer and she had written to Hermione to inform her that "they were doing her nut in!" So she was overjoyed to see her and to have someone to properly talk to.

The two girls had become close over the years, particularly after Ginny's first year at Hogwarts. Being possessed by You-Know-Who and nearly dying had been a horrific experience for Ginny and it had left her feeling rather traumatised and lost. Her mother had smothered her in affection and her brothers awkwardly treated her like she was some sort of injured puppy. They ended up ignoring her for most of the summer as they had no idea what to do. It was Hermione, with her large heart and insightful nature that reached out to Ginny, writing to her at the start of the summer. This turned into regularly correspondence, with Hermione mostly keeping her letters lighthearted and after a few weeks she invited Ginny to her house for a sleepover.

At their sleepover Hermione introduced Ginny to television and they watched Overboard as it was one of Hermione's favourite films. Ginny found it hilarious and had tons of questions about Muggles. "My dad would love this!" she said.

Their snacks for the movie were carrots and grapes but afterwards Hermione made them hot chocolate with marshmallows, a special treat she'd persuaded her dentist parents to let them have. They curled up on the sofa sipping their delicious drinks of chocolately goodness. The romantic comedy naturally led the conversation to boys, and Ginny confessed that she still fancied Harry. She giggled when Hermione made a face and said "Harry's a great guy, but Merlin that hair! I don't think he owns a brush."

Hermione noticed that Ginny had stopped smiling and reached out her hand to her, "You ok?"

"Yea" Ginny replied, "No? Maybe. I'm getting there" she sighed, "I just felt so powerless and so stupid you know? And Harry, he saved me."

"He does that" said Hermione, "Ginny much older wizards than you have been tricked by You-Know-Who and his followers. And I know for a fact that Harry often feels powerless and stupid too. Don't let the whole 'boy-who-lived' thing fool you. Often he's just a scared boy, figuring it out as he goes. But I know that both of you are Gryffindors through and through."

Ginny was watching Hermione out of the corner of her eye as she said all this. She took a deep breath and then looked her square in the eye. "Thanks Hermione. You've been a pretty good friend this summer. Now it's your turn."

"My turn?" said Hermione with a puzzled brow.

"Yes" and at this Ginny started to grin "Who do you fancy?"

After much persistent needling, Hermione eventually gave in and confessed to her poorly chosen crush at Hogwarts last year- Professor Lockhart. Ginny had laughed so hard at this that she had fallen off the sofa.

Their friendship was sealed that night and from that point on they often confided in one another. Although very different in nature, Ginny naturally being more outgoing and less studious, their friendship seemed to bring out the best in both of them. Ginny was able to help Hermione lighten up and provided a sympathetic ear whenever she needed to rant about Ron and Harry. Hermione was able to bring out a side in Ginny that few people were privileged to see; her deep and thoughtful side. They trusted one another completely and loyally kept one another's secrets.

They had been writing to each other all summer, a fact which annoyed Ron greatly, "Why does she write to you more than me? She's my friend not yours" he said sulkily.

"Because you always forget to reply you prat! And I'm her friend too," at this point Ginny had reached on her tippy toes and flicked Ron in the ear, running away quickly before he could retaliate.

Arriving at the Burrow now, Hermione set down her bags and hugged Ginny. Ron was waiting for her arrival too and went to hug Hermione, which she turned into an awkward side hug, hoping that Ginny wouldn't see anything unusual in her behaviour. At the end of term last year she had had a rather vivid dream where Ron had hugged her and then kissed her deeply. She had decided not to analyse it too much but it still made her blush to think about it. Hermione blamed it on hormones and tried to reassure herself that from all she had read this was just a normal part of growing up. She just wished she could skip puberty altogether! Ginny had unfortunately noticed and was now looking at her questioningly. Hermione just shook her head, but knew Ginny would wheedle it out for her later. She was like a Niffler in her relentlessness. Now as Ginny helped her with her bags up to her room, Hermione wondered how long she would be able to hold out before confessing to her summer romance!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **For** _ **VampLuver1998**_ **whose kind review spurred me on to post this next chapter.**

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She held out for 5 minutes exactly.

"So how was your holiday with your parents? Was it really as boring as your letters made it sound?" asked Ginny teasingly.

"Ginny," Hermione admonished, "just because you don't have any appreciation of the legacy of the past doesn't make it boring. Did you know that Camille Desmoulins was actually a wizard? And he led the storming of the Bastille with…."

She broke off at this point as her companion had started pretending to snore.

Hermione laughingly shoved her saying, "Fine, now you'll never know!"

Ginny opened her eyes grinning, "But weren't you staying at one of those muggle holiday resorts? I'd heard from Sally Rogers that they can be crazy. She said there were loads of people her age and she met some pretty fit guys too." At this she waggled her eyebrows suggestively at Hermione, looking rather like Fred and George in that moment.

At Hermione's deep blush, Ginny shrieked "I knew it! You met someone didn't you? Tell me everything!"

"There's nothing to tell," said Hermione in her most prim and proper voice. She tried to change the subject but Ginny persisted.

In exasperation Hermione threw her hands up in the air, "Fine, but you have to promise not to tell anyone what I'm about to tell you!"

Ginny rolled her eyes and said "Duh" holding out her baby finger to make a pinky promise. She then gestured for her to continue. Hermione looked at her watch and saw she'd held out for 5 minutes before caving. A new record, she thought wryly.

"Ok," she said nervously, "So yes, there were a lot of people my age and I may have ended up spending a lot of my time with them. There was one main group really, mainly guys and they were always so rowdy and continually disturbing my peace when I was reading."

At this Ginny rolled her eyes again, "and…" she prompted.

Hermione took a steadying breath. This was her secret romance, her first romance really and although part of her wanted to keep it a secret, there was another part that was dying to blurt it all out to Ginny. She'd found in through their friendship that there was something extremely satisfying about sharing your crushes with your friend, in order to analyse each and every single detail together. She smiled to herself as she thought of all the many details she had to share.

"And!" said Ginny impatiently.

"So one day," Hermione continued, "I was sitting by the pool reading and a whole lot of them arrived and started messing around with a beach ball in the water. I tried to ignore their shrieks and continue reading my very fascinating novel on the French Revolution, but next thing I knew my book was knocked out of my hand as I was hit right in the face with the beach ball."

Ginny winced sympathetically.

"I was feeling slightly disorientated but was about to get up and give them a piece of my mind when one of them leapt out of the pool. His friends started to wolf whistle which completely mortified me but which he completely ignored."

She blushed now at the memory of that first meeting. The wolf whistles had stopped her tirade before she'd even begun, especially as she'd been confronted with a shirtless, dripping wet, rather attractive guy, walking towards her.

"Hermione Jean Granger if you don't finish this story right now I will throttle you!" Ginny's angry tones brought her back to the room.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly, "So this guy comes right up to me, completely invading my personal space I might add, takes my hand in his, touches my head and says in broken English, 'You are hurt, no?' while gazing deeply into my eyes!" She said all this rather quickly and slightly breathlessly.

"Be still my beating heart," said Ginny, dramatically swooning.

Hermione threw a pillow at her but she had to admit to herself that it had been rather romantic. After simply gazing back at the guy for a moment or two, like a hapless fool, she had then tucked her hair behind her ear and simply shook her head. She decided to continue with her story before Ginny threw the pillow back at her.

"He then insisted I join him and his friends that night for a campfire. He told me he would toast me many marshmallows to make up for that fact I'd been hit in the face. Although he didn't know the word for marshmallows, I eventually worked out the gist" she grinned now as she remembered him gesticulating wildly to try and get her to understand." He called for me at our villa to make sure I came and I ended up having the best night. I spent the rest of the holiday hanging out with him and his friends."

Ginny had shrieked at this point and Hermione had shushed her. "Ok, I have a million questions! What's his name? Did he kiss you? Will you see him again?"

Laughingly Hermione replied, "Well his name is Viktor and he's a muggle so unless he happens to be at the same holiday camp next year, I doubt I'll ever see him again."

At this her smile faltered. It had been a two week summer romance and she'd loved every minute of it, except for when it came to say goodbye. His English wasn't great but they seemed to be able to communicate without too many words. She ended up having so much fun with Viktor and his friends, something she admitted to herself she hadn't been able to have much of during her past year at Hogwarts. Taking far too many classes combined with the terrifying encounter with Sirius Black had meant it had been one stressful year. When Viktor had invited her to come to the campfire she had decided to accept as part of her vow to let herself unwind and just be a teenager for once.

"Don't think I didn't notice you didn't answer one of my questions," Ginny said sternly, jolting Hermione out of her thoughts, "Did you kiss him?"

Hermione couldn't stop the huge smile that lit up her face and Ginny shrieked so loudly this time that Percy came bursting through the door.

"What is all this shrieking Ginevra? Are you alright?"

Ginny made a face at being called by her full name, "Yes Percival, I'm fine thank-you, eh, I just thought I saw a spider."

At this Ron, who had been walking past poked his head in and looking rather pale said, "A spider? Blimey Ginny well did you catch it?" His eyes darted around the room in a frantic search for the creature.

Percy, with his nose in the air haughtily remarked, "Well since your life isn't in fact in danger I will be getting back to my very important report I'm writing for Mr Crouch. I'm sure Ginevra has informed you Hermione of how I'm practically his right hand man." He puffed out his chest as he spoke just as Fred and George piled into Ginny's rather small room.

The girls were sitting on the bed and suddenly found themselves dwarfed by the four wizards towering over them. "Perce, of course Hermione's heard, she does after all read the Daily Prophet" said George.

Percy looked at him warily as Fred said, "Front page headline last month- 'Ministry of Magic Employee gets head stuck up his bosses ass.'" Everyone save for Percy and Hermione laughed aloud at this, but Ginny could see that Hermione had covered her mouth with her hand as she was clearly trying her hardest not to smile.

"Well," huffed Percy, and he stormed out of the room.

"So what were you two witches shrieking about then? Excited about the Quidditch World Cup final?" asked Fred.

"We thought we saw a spider," said a straight faced Ginny.

"Fine keep your secrets for now," said George, in what he considered a threatening tone, to which Ginny looked completely unfazed. Hermione was feeling rather flustered and so had picked up the nearest book and was pretending to read it. It just so happened to be a 'Cauldron Full of Love' by Celestina Warbeck's autobiography.

Sensing her friend's discomfort, Ginny enquired, "Can you smell something burning?" and she sniffed the air with a puzzled expression on her face.

"Damn in, that'll be our potion. I told you George to keep an eye on the time," and with that the twins rushed out to run to their room, or as they'd taken to calling it their 'Diabolical Laboratory of Creative Genius.'

Ron, still casting his eyes around the room for spiders followed them out. As soon as he was gone both girls looked at each other and burst out laughing.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for all the kind reviews, follows and favourites! Anyone else seen The Crimes of Grindlewald yet? I really liked some parts and really disliked others. Think I'll need to see it again before I make up my mind about it.**

 **Enjoy!**

Harry had arrived at the Burrow earlier that day so Ginny and Hermione had gone to bed early to discuss Ginny's ongoing crush. Both girls were in their pyjamas, a far too large Chudley Cannons T-shirt for Ginny, that fashioned as a nightdress, and a red and white checked pyjama set for Hermione. They were currently sitting on Ginny's bed by whispering about the events of the day. Their only light was from Hermione's small torch that she had brought with her for camping at the World Cup. She loved camping with her parents, particularly in the Forest of Dean and was excited to see what magical camping looked like.

"Arg!" said Ginny now, running her hands through her hair in frustration. "Did you see how red I went? Curse my Weasley pale skin!"

"I know," responded Hermione sympathetically, while smothering a giggle that escaped her lips at the memory of Ginny's scarlet face when she saw Harry again for the first time since school.

Ginny glared in response. "I always tell myself this time I'll be cool and collected, but then I see him, in all his Harry Potter awesomeness, and I end up frozen, just standing there like a complete idiot." She sighed deeply, burrowing her head in her hands.

Hermione carefully lifted Ginny's hands away from her face and held onto them, "Ginny Molly Weasley, you listen to me. You are smart, funny, attractive and completely wonderful. Harry would be lucky to go out with you."

"Well, yes I guess I am amazing," replied Ginny, smiling at Hermione's lovely words.

Hermione laughed, nodding her head in agreement.

"But I can barely talk to him," continued Ginny, "so how on earth is he ever going to find out?"

"Hmm," said Hermione. Her face took on the appearance it often wore in the library when she was trying to work through a particularly complex problem. "I'll put my not inconsiderable mind to it. As you know it's not like I have much experience with boys either. I'm not sure my two week summer romance qualifies me as an expert."

Both girls giggled at this.

"But there are books," Hermione declared passionately, "and I promise to research this for both our sakes!"

Ginny smiled at the quintessentially Hermione answer to her dilemma.

"For now I would suggest just trying to relax a bit more, start to try and be more yourself around him. He's only a smelly boy, even if he is Harry Potter," Hermione advised, smiling at Ginny.

"Where you able to be yourself with Viktor?" asked Ginny.

"Well not at first." Hermione smiled at the memory of how shy she had been on their walk that first night from her villa to the campfire where his friends were already gathered. Viktor had a way of looking at her that made her feel like she was the most beautiful girl in the world. She knew from her reflection in the mirror just how far from the truth this actually was, but she could tell his admiration was genuine. Finding herself liked by this older guy with the intense eyes had rendered her tongue tied at first. A phenomenon she was sure Harry and Ron would have paid good money to see.

She thought now of what she could say that might help Ginny. "At first I was tongue tied and blushed rather a good deal so I can definitely relate to that, thankfully it was dark when we walked to the campfire together."

Ginny teasingly said in reply, "So you're saying I should just try and see Harry when it's dark?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and continued, "But when we were sitting at the campfire together, he asked me about the book I'd been reading by the pool and once I got started I couldn't seem to stop talking."

Viktor hadn't interrupted her once, and although she was unsure how much he understood he seemed to find her passion fascinating and his eyes hadn't left her face once.

"After that I was able to relax and just be myself with him," finished Hermione.

"At least I'll have the Quidditch World Cup tomorrow to distract me," Ginny said, her face lighting up.

She was an avid Qudditch fan, something which her family didn't quite realise. Ginny had confessed to Hermione that she had been stealing her brother's brooms since she was six years old to practice. When Hermione stayed over Ginny would often persuade her to reluctantly stand guard. She knew they had a very early start tomorrow so there was no way she'd be able to persuade Hermione tonight.

"I hope you're not planning on bringing books with you tomorrow!" chided Ginny.

"Well I may bring one or two," said Hermione, but at Ginny's fierce glare continued with, "But I promise not to read any during the game itself, unless it goes on for five days like in the past."

"Ok, I guess I can agree to that," said Ginny. "Wouldn't that be so awesome if it went on for so long this time? I hope it does."

Ginny suddenly remembered something she'd been meaning to ask Hermione.

"Here, what were you three whispering about at the dinner table tonight? I know you're keeping something from me so spill!"

Hermione looked genuinely conscious stricken at Ginny's question. The three of them were of course herself, Harry and Ron. They had been whispering about Sirius Black, Harry's convicted godfather who escaped Azkaban last year. Only the three of them and Dumbledore knew how he had escaped; on the back of the rescued hippogriff Buckbeak, a flying experience even more terrifying than flying in Hermione's opinion.

"I'm sorry Ginny," she said now. "You know I would tell you if I could. Hopefully one day in the future it will all be out in the open and then I'll be able to tell you everything."

Grumbling Ginny replied, "You three always seem to have your secrets. Although I'm the only one that knows about Viktor right?"

"Right!" said Hermione grinning. She knew Harry would probably be incredibly awkward about it and she had no idea how Ron would respond. Looking at her watch now she gasped when she saw how late it was, "Oh my look at the time! We better get to sleep," and she climbed into her camp bed.

"Yea, good call," said Ginny, "Mum's getting us up at ridiculous o'clock tomorrow. Night Hermione. Sweet dreams of Viktor!"

"Night Ginny, sweet dreams of Harry."

 **A/N Next Chapter: Quidditch World Cup- EEP!**


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